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Friday, October 7, 2011

Spell Casting a Loom

I remember picking up the newest copy of Video Games and Computer Entertainment (VG&CE) and seeing this amazing looking adventure game. Of course it was only available on PC. PC games had this 'nya nya, look at what we can do' feeling to them. The cut-scenes, the music, the game-play, this was like watching an animated Disney movie, and controlling everything. The game is Loom. By today's standards Loom is largely known as a classic point and click adventure game, that was short two sequels of being a legendary game series. Creator Brian Moriarty had at one time mentioned that Loom was to be the first story in a trilogy of games. The sequels 'The Forge' and The Fold, never saw the light of day, even though Loom sold a half million copies on various releases. One of those being- The TurboGrafx CD!

Loom on the Turbo Super CD is amazing. It took everything from the PC original and consolised it for Turbo fans around the world. If you experienced the PC version you won't be disappointed. All the scenery, storyline, spells, and characters are in tact! Aside from a few issues with the buzzing sounds of the distaff, and the spoken dialog being cut out of this CD release, it is the exact same game. Brian Moriarty's Loom brings an excellent adventure game to the Turbo SCD and ONLY to the NEC console.

The first time I plunged into the game I spent somewhere upward to 8 hours going through the game. A few friends and myself huddled around the TV set like we would a movie, just waiting to see what trouble Bobbin would get into next. Now when I play through it, it takes me around 2~3 hours. Always a great experience trying out different things.

It is mainly a puzzle based adventure game. You are Bobbin Threadbare. You encounter an issue, think about it for a while, look and talk to things, and then solve the issue, then move onto the next issue. Of course this is very similar to other graphic adventure games of yesteryear in the days of Amiga and DOS PCs: Monkey Island, King's Quest, and Beneath a Steel Sky. There were very few games like this released on consoles, which is why I think this makes Loom a really special release. The only other game like this on the Turbo would be the rare Beyond Shadowgate. There are pretty big differences between the two though. In Loom you use a 'mouse style' clicker to move about and look at things, whereas in Shadowgate you actually move your character around, dodging and punching bad guys. Loom has pretty much no fighting at all. There are very few parts in the game where Bobbin is in any situation where you need to use any dexterity to dodge monsters or kill anything. Bobbin is mainly just casting spells to change the color of Sheep to camouflage their colors from a overheard Dragon, and reversing a typhoon's spin to float over the water of a lake.
The experience is not one to miss really. It's the perfect afternoon romp. It really makes you think too with memorizing musical spells and figuring out the puzzles that Bobbin encounters. If you have a night with your family and friends, and are looking for a movie to watch, maybe pop in the Turbo classic Loom and try to get everyone involved in saving the world from chaos!!